ARCHIVE FOR The Writing Life

This article was originally published on Dead Darlings.  

Michelle Hoover, Novel Incubator instructor and author of Bottomland, shares some of her tips to help get you back to your writing desks during this time and calm the nerves just enough to concentrate for an hour or two or more.

By Katrin Schumann

I sat down to write this post and have now written four openings and ditched them all.

What do writers need to hear in times like this? How can I be helpful to others when that which binds us--our obsessive love of words, books, writing--is overshadowed so universally by our fear of the unknown? 

Do I tell you how to make lemons out of lemondade?* Do I reveal that I'm writing page after page despite the uncertainty and boredom

The April 2020 edition of "Writing Life Essentials," a monthly hand-curated list of contests, grants, scholarships, submissions calls, and awards, with a focus on opportunities that are local, free to apply, and/or committed to celebrating and supporting writers from historically marginalized communities. We do the research, so you have more time for what matters: the writing. Or, preparing April Fool’s jokes. That’s important too.

By Katrin Schumann

Today, March 4, is the official Boston launch of my second novel, This Terrible Beauty. It's a momentous occasion for me for many reasons, not least of which is that I feel proud of finding what I think is the right balance between fact and fiction.

What I mean is, I had so, so, SO much material for this book

The  March 2020 edition of "Writing Life Essentials," a monthly hand-curated list of contests, grants, scholarships, submissions calls, and awards, with a focus on opportunities that are at least one of the following: local, free to apply, and/or committed to celebrating and supporting writers from historically marginalized communities. We do the research, so you have more time for what matters: the writing. Or, spring cleaning. That’s important too.